Twitter firm analyzes TV chatter

Twitter confirmed last week that it was acquiring Bluefin Labs, a company that analyzes online chatter about TV shows and companies and sells its findings.

Twitter is paying nearly $100 million for Bluefin, according to a person with direct knowledge of the sale, making it the website’s biggest acquisition to date. The person insisted on anonymity because the terms of the deal were not disclosed publicly.

The deal suggests a new line of business for Twitter, which is under pressure to increase its revenue. Bluefin calls itself a social TV analytics company, one of many that have cropped up as Facebook and Twitter have created an instantaneous stream of commentary that helps inform television producers and distributors. Companies like CBS, which televised the Super Bowl on Sunday, pay Bluefin for information about what is being said about them online.

“We believe that Bluefin’s data science capabilities and social TV expertise will help us create innovative new ad products and consumer experiences in the exciting intersection of Twitter and TV,” the Twitter chief operating officer, Ali Rowghani, said in a blog post about the deal.

Bluefin’s backers have invested about $20 million in the company to date. The impending deal with Twitter was first reported by Business Insider.

Bluefin will remain a separate arm of Twitter. Bluefin’s office in Cambridge, Mass., will become an outpost for Twitter.

The acquisition comes six weeks after Twitter and Nielsen announced a partnership to provide a “Nielsen Twitter TV rating” for broadcasters and advertisers. Nielsen and one of its joint ventures, NM Incite, bought a smaller competitor of Bluefin’s, called SocialGuide, in November. The terms of that sale were not disclosed, but SocialGuide’s technology will be used in the Twitter TV rating service, expected to be available in the fall.

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